(Invited) The Electrodeposition of Crystalline Gallium Antimonide Using Electrochemical Liquid-Liquid Solid Deposition (ec-LLS)

Gallium antimonide (GaSb) is a III-V semiconductor that has potential use in a variety of applications including thermophotovoltaics, tandem solar cells and photodetectors.¹ Due to its conceivable use in semiconductor devices several thin film growth methods have been established for crystalline GaSb. Electrodeposition of crystalline GaSb films has been previously attempted ^2,3 but the deposits contained large amounts of excess antimony and required post-deposition annealing steps. Electrochemical liquid-liquid solid deposition (ec-LLS) is a method in which an electrochemical potential gradient is used to achieve a supersaturation within liquid metal electrode/solvent in order to promote the growth of crystalline semiconductors.⁴ In this study stoichiometric films of crystalline GaSb were electrodeposited from an Sb­₂O₃ precursor in aqueous electrolyte via ec-LLS at mild temperatures (40^o-90^oC) and ambient pressure. In addition, the growth conditions were varied and the observed effects on the resultant materials crystallinity and composition were used to obtain insight on the proposed mechanism of ec-LLS.  

References

(1) Kumar, V. et al; J. Appl. Phys., 1997, 81, 5821-5870

(2) McChesney, J et al., Optical Materials, 1996, 6, 63-67

(3) Musiani, M et al., J. Appl. Electrochem., 1989, 20, 868-873

(4) Fahrenkrug, E.; Gu, J.; Maldonado, S. J. Am. Chem. Soc.,2013, 135, 330-339